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AquaBEHERweb
Explore growing seasons, soil water and rangeland conditions. An open research portal for Africa, with current prototypes focused on West Africa.
Open agroclimatic intelligence
ClimateSoil & waterSeasons
The idea behind AquaBEHERweb
Climate, water and vegetation in one place.
AquaBEHERweb brings together outputs from agroclimatic and rangeland research workflows. Explore seasonal timing, water balance, growing conditions and forage resources on a map, then examine how a selected location changes through time.
The project is developed within the Translational Plant Genomics group at the Institute of Plant Sciences, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy. The web explorer complements the AquaBEHER R package and Shiny application.
Explore the AquaBEHER methodsCurrent coverage
The explorer currently focuses on West Africa, including vegetation and forage prototypes for Ghana. Spatial coverage and available dates vary by product; a blank area or missing observation does not mean zero.
East and Southern Africa remain planned sections in this explorer.- Monitoring & landscape layers
- 13
- Seasonal outlook layers
- 5
Please read before using the products
Experimental research prototypesDisclaimer
AquaBEHERweb provides experimental agroclimatic products for research, learning and evaluation. The purpose of this prototype is to let users experience the tools, examine their outputs and help improve them through feedback.
Do not use these products as the sole basis for agricultural, water-management, emergency or policy decisions.
For exploration and evaluation
Products are provided for research, learning and testing. Coverage, methods and availability may change as the prototypes evolve.
Read each result in context
Mapped values are estimates and carry uncertainty. Check the region, period, units, data sources and method before drawing conclusions.
Combine with local knowledge
These prototypes are not validated operational advisories. Do not use them as the sole basis for farm, water-management or policy decisions; compare them with local observations and expert guidance.
Understand what you see
Read the results with confidence.
A date, an anomaly and a forecast answer different questions. Choose a view below to see how to read them.
The season’s label and the pixel’s date
Agronomic onset is shown as a calendar date in point values, series and exports. The reporting date identifies the selected layer’s time slice; the onset date describes the estimated start at that pixel. All displayed dates omit clock times.
The current West Africa major-season onset uses 1 February as day zero. Leap years are handled automatically. Raw raster downloads retain their source encoding.
Illustration · not a measured pixel
- Reporting date
- 1 Feb 2026
- Estimated onset at a pixel
- 24 Mar 2026
These dates describe the same season: one identifies the layer; the other describes the local onset.
Compare dates
Use the time slider and playback to explore the dates published for the selected product. Collapse the controls to give the map more room.
Inspect a pixel
Activate Pixel series, then click the map. Switch between Graph and Table; selecting a point or a table date updates the map.
Save and share
Save the graph as PNG or the table as CSV. Tables include variable, year, reporting date and value with its unit. Share a map link or request a raster download.
A field guide to the products
What does each indicator tell us?
Browse the monitoring and landscape products currently listed in the explorer. Open a card for its meaning, unit and limitations, then jump to the corresponding layer. Seasonal outlooks are explained in Read the results above.
The terrain beneath the climate.
Explorer prototypeStatic layerValue only
Definition
Land-surface height above mean sea level.
What it helps explore
Place climate and vegetation patterns in their terrain context.
Unit
Metres (m).
How to read it
A static context layer. Local terrain and the raster resolution can affect comparisons between nearby sites.
The soil’s capacity to store plant-available water.
Explorer prototypeStatic layerValue only
Definition
The amount of water the represented soil profile can retain and make available to plants.
What it helps explore
Understand why similar rainfall can support different water availability across soils.
Unit
Millimetres (mm).
How to read it
Capacity is a soil property. It does not measure how much water is in the soil today; check the depth represented by the dataset.
When the growing season can begin.
Explorer prototypeTime-enabledValue & anomaly
Definition
The estimated start of a growing season, when modelled water availability meets the onset and persistence criteria within a defined seasonal window.
What it helps explore
Compare the timing of season establishment across locations and years, and investigate potential planting windows.
Unit
Calendar date
How to read it
Onset values are elapsed days from 1 February of the season year (day zero). The explorer displays calendar dates; raw raster downloads retain the original encoding. An onset value is not a planting recommendation.
When seasonal water support comes to an end.
Explorer prototypeTime-enabledValue & anomaly
Definition
The estimated end of the growing season, identified when modelled water availability falls below the cessation criteria for a sustained period.
What it helps explore
Explore the end of the water-supported growing period and its implications for crop maturity and terminal water stress.
Unit
Days; verify the dataset’s reference date.
How to read it
Soil storage can sustain growth after rainfall stops. Cessation still uses the published numeric value in this explorer. Confirm its reference date and encoding before converting it to a calendar date; do not assume it follows the onset display conversion.
The length of the water-supported growing season.
Explorer prototypeTime-enabledValue & anomaly
Definition
The interval between estimated agronomic onset and cessation within the defined seasonal window.
What it helps explore
Compare the length of the growing period across seasons and locations.
Unit
Days.
How to read it
A longer season does not guarantee higher yield. Duration depends on both endpoints and is unavailable where a valid season cannot be identified.
Days with conditions that support crop growth.
Explorer prototypeTime-enabledValue & anomaly
Definition
The number of days meeting the configured temperature and water-availability criteria for growth during the reporting period.
What it helps explore
Compare the frequency of favourable growing conditions between seasons or locations.
Unit
Days per reporting period.
How to read it
More days suggest a longer opportunity for growth under the model assumptions. The indicator is not a yield estimate; crop thresholds and other limitations matter.
Rainfall supply relative to atmospheric demand.
Explorer prototypeTime-enabledValue & anomaly
Definition
Accumulated precipitation minus potential evapotranspiration (P − PET) over the reporting period.
What it helps explore
Investigate climatic water surpluses and deficits and their variation through time.
Unit
Millimetres (mm) per reporting period.
How to read it
Positive values mean precipitation exceeds PET; negative values indicate a climatic deficit. This is not a direct measurement of soil moisture or irrigation need.
When heat and dryness occur together.
Explorer prototypeTime-enabledValue & anomaly
Definition
The count of days on which the configured heat threshold and dryness condition are met simultaneously.
What it helps explore
Explore exposure to combined heat and water stress, which may be more restrictive than either condition alone.
Unit
Days per reporting period.
How to read it
Interpret the count with the product’s heat threshold, dryness criterion and baseline. Values are not directly comparable across different definitions.
Days when water availability constrains growth.
Explorer prototypeTime-enabledValue & anomaly
Definition
The number of days when modelled soil-water conditions meet the configured moisture-stress criterion.
What it helps explore
Locate periods and areas with persistent water limitation and compare stress exposure across years.
Unit
Days per reporting period.
How to read it
The count describes the frequency of stress, not its intensity. Soil capacity, rooting assumptions and the selected stress rule influence the result.
Water demand of rangeland vegetation.
Explorer prototypeTime-enabledValue & anomaly
Definition
Estimated water required to meet the evapotranspiration demand of rangeland vegetation over a defined period.
What it helps explore
Explore seasonal vegetation water demand and compare it with available water supply.
Unit
Millimetres (mm) per reporting period; confirm the period in the dataset metadata.
How to read it
Water requirement is demand, not the amount of water available. It differs from WRSI (%), which describes the proportion of demand satisfied. Check the published method, units and reference period before interpreting the layer.
New vegetation dry matter over a period.
Explorer prototypeTime-enabledValue only
Definition
Estimated dry matter produced by vegetation during the reporting period.
What it helps explore
Explore when and where vegetation production increases or declines in the Ghana prototype.
Unit
Unit not yet confirmed; consult the dataset metadata.
How to read it
Production accumulates over a period; standing biomass is a stock at a date. Confirm the unit, aggregation period and land-cover treatment before calculating totals.
Herbaceous biomass present at a date.
Explorer prototypeTime-enabledValue only
Definition
Estimated standing herbaceous biomass under the ungrazed scenario for the selected reporting date.
What it helps explore
Explore the modelled herbaceous stock and its seasonal change in the Ghana prototype.
Unit
Unit not yet confirmed; consult the dataset metadata.
How to read it
This is an ungrazed scenario. Grazing, access, vegetation quality and other losses influence usable feed; the mapped stock is not a stocking-rate recommendation.
Forage estimated under the central scenario.
Explorer prototypeTime-enabledValue only
Definition
Estimated forage on offer for the mapped area and selected reporting date under the product’s central scenario.
What it helps explore
Explore spatial patterns and seasonal changes in potential forage resources in the Ghana prototype.
Unit
Unit not yet confirmed; consult the dataset metadata.
How to read it
Available in the explorer as a Value layer. Check the release’s land-cover and availability assumptions; accessibility, feed quality and livestock demand still need separate assessment.
Units describe Value layers. Standardized anomalies are unitless; their meaning depends on the reference period. Forecasts express probabilities. The three vegetation and forage layers currently have no anomaly counterpart, and their units must be confirmed from the dataset metadata before calculation or comparison.
Build with us
Want to work with us?
We welcome researchers, practitioners and organisations interested in making agroclimatic information more useful. Bring a question, a dataset or a real-world use case.
Start a conversationTest the prototypes
Tell us what works, what is unclear and which decisions the products could help inform.
Validate and improve
Compare outputs with field observations, investigate uncertainties and refine the methods.
Develop together
Contribute data, code or expertise, or explore a joint research and training project.
Acknowledge the work
Cite AquaBEHERweb.
If you use the web platform in research, teaching or a report, acknowledge the software using the citation below.
This cites the web application. Also record the exact version or commit, product, period and access date, and cite the underlying datasets and AquaBEHER methods separately. “n.d.” indicates that no verified release date is assigned to this software version here.
View the source repositoryCite the AquaBEHER R packageCitation version 2.0.0
Miteku, R. T., Dell’Acqua, M., & Caproni, L. (n.d.). AquaBEHERweb: A geospatial web app for processing, retrieving, and visualizing AgroClimatic Indicators (Version 2.0.0) [Computer software]. GitHub. https://github.com/RobelTakele/aquabeherweb